John Wall Callcott


John Wall Callcott was an eminent English composer.
Callcott was born in Kensington, London. He was a pupil of Haydn, and is celebrated mainly for his glee compositions and catches. In the best known of his catches he ridiculed Sir John Hawkins' History of Music. Although ill-health prevented Callcott from completing his Musical Dictionary, His Musical Grammar remained in use throughout the 19th century.
His glees number at least 100, of which 8 won prizes. Callcott set lyrics by leading poets of his day, including Thomas Gray, Sir Walter Scott, Thomas Chatterton, Robert Southey and Ossian. They include :
A number of his glees specify two soprano or treble voices, the second of which has a range appropriate to a female mezzo-soprano or contralto.
Callcott also composed solo songs and religious music including psalms and sacred canons.
Callcott's daughter Elizabeth married William Horsley who, in 1824, published A collection of Glees Canons and Catches, an edition of his father-in-law's works together with a Memoir of Dr Callcott. His son William Hutchins Callcott became a composer and arranger.
His brother Augustus Wall Callcott was a noted landscape painter.